AIBU? Reading other people's greetings cards (v minor!)

I like reading other peoples cards, I am a card whore so if its a nice one I like to see where they have got it from and whether they have nice handwriting.

My PILS are really weird about cards though- they always get you a "relationship" card i.e. happy birthday daughter in law- and get really pissed off if they get a non relationship card. They also favour soppy hallmark type verses inside, and think they are genuinely meant by the sender.

Since I hate realtionship cards, and verses (I always buy blank inside cards, usually from M&S or JL since they are my favourite) i am not popular (well, never am with them, to my delight)

It doesn't bother me if it's a close friend or family looking at mine, but if some acquaintance I don't know that well started looking without asking I would think it was cheeky. I would always ask first before I looked, it's only polite. I definitely wouldn't look at someone else's calendar, that's just rude!

I don't get the public display thing though, they're not on public display at all, they're on display in someone's private home, not a museum.

By public display, I kind of meant they are there for people to look at. If something was private, I wouldn't have it on display in my home

L
xx

See, I think that it's the front of the card that's on display, not the contents. Admittedly you can put them away if you don't want people reading them, but I don't think that's the point.

Having said that, I wouldn't be that fussed about someone idly looking at a few, but someone (especially PIL) methodically going through each one in turn does smack of nosiness.

What Lois Said.

I would normally ask anyone other than my mum or in-laws if it was ok for me to look at them.

Another card reader here, although I only really go to family / close friends' houses. I'd draw the line at valentines or the 'To my husband / wife' type ones though.

I had no idea it would be such a big

Maybe you'd prefer a better term than public display, by that I just mean on display in your home where anyone being invited into your home will be likely to see them, therefore on display for them to look at. That tends to mean friends/family.

I still don't understand moaning about PIL reading them, surely that's immediate/close family. Obv. anyone other than that I'd ask but in all honesty I wouldn't be interested.

well i don't think MG is really moaning about it to be fair, but yes, i agree with you.

Depends what it's for. If it's a card to my H from me or my H has written a card to me (if we bothered with valentines day for example) then that is private but if they are cards from family to us then i don't mind who reads them.

I don't even consider Valentine's day cards private - if someone wants a nose at them they are welcome. For that reason, I wouldn't put something ina card that wasn't suitable for public consumption

L
xx

I don't think it would bother me if a friend or family member started looking at baby congratulations, or birthday or christmas, cards as I wouldn't expect anything very personal to be written in them. Having said that, I think the 'public display' aspect of cards is about the picture on the front, not the contents.

I love cards and H and I have loads on our mantlepiece that we've sent each other. Since part of the point of them is the picture it would seem a real shame to stick them in a drawer where they can't be seen. But the contents is private between us and I'd be horrified if anyone started reading through them.

I certainly look at cards at my Mum's house or at my sister's without asking, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do it at a friends or my PiL's. I'm quite quiet and shy, and rarely sit down in another person's home without being told to, so nosing around their belongings would feel like I was really intruding IYSWIM

I think I'm with you, MG. My mum came round and read all our cards that I had up after I had Jonathan - and it annoyed me cos, like your PIL, she is just a complete nosy git ?

I generally don't read others cards, no - if someone has a particularly lovely card (eg a nice handmade one) or a particularly hideous one I might try and sneakily peer into the inside of the card to see who had such wonderful/awful taste, but other than that I'm not really interested in what other people write in cards!